By Kaylyn Haslund and Maranda Clark
Tidal Echoes is Southeast Alaska’s annual Literary and Arts journal. For the last 15 years, Tidal Echoes has published the work of local artists and writers. First published in 2004, the journal has grown exponentially with more than 300 submissions a year.
The journal was founded by Professor Alexis Easley and Professor Emily Wall in 2004. In 2005, when Professor Easley left, Professor Ernestine Hayes took over for one year. Tidal Echoes was then passed back to Professor Wall in 2007. She has been the faculty advisor of the journal since then, making this her 10th anniversary with the journal. This will also be the journal’s 15th year of publication.
Under Professor Wall, the journal has grown. She introduced the idea of featuring and interviewing one Southeast writer and one Southeast artist each issue. The first of these interviews took place in 2008, with Nora Marks Dauenhauer as the featured writer. A featured artist was then added two years later. The first artist was Jane Terzis in 2010. This year’s edition will feature Lynn Schooler as the featured writer, and Rico Lanaat’ Worl as the featured artist. Schooler, known for works like The Blue Bear, currently has four books published and will be sharing an excerpt in the journal. Worl, who is currently the owner of Trickster Company located in downtown Juneau, will have his art featured on the cover and in an interior spread of the journal.
When the journal first started, the editors only took submissions from the University of Alaska Southeast’s Juneau campus; however, it slowly started to extend its reach past UAS. First, it extended the invitation for submissions to the Sitka and Ketchikan UAS campuses. Not long after, the journal started taking submissions from other Southeast communities beyond UAS: such as Haines, Skagway, Wrangell, Metlakatla, and Tenakee Springs. The journal is still reaching out to all Southeast communities in hopes of engaging the Southeast Alaskan creative community.
Tidal Echoes looks for diversity in all the different Southeast communities, diversity in the creative work, and the diversity of writers and artists. Creators come from all walks of life. The journal has been encouraging students from high schools, people with disabilities, and individuals from Lemon Creek Correctional Center to share their creative work as well.
Another unique feature of the journal is that it is edited by undergraduate students. Three students a year work on the journal: a senior editor, a junior editor, and a fall intern. The senior editor mentors the junior editor, and all three work under faculty advisor Professor Emily Wall.
The submission review process includes a board consisting of faculty, student interns, and community members. All work is read and carefully considered. Once these choices are made, the two student editors figure out how to organize the final manuscript. The manuscript then goes under a meticulous editing process. After that, it is sent to the journal’s graphic designer, Alison Krein, who designs the whole journal. The final touches are made and off to the press it goes!
There is a scholarship award available, the Mac Behrend Award. It is given to one student enrolled at the university, and who will be returning the following fall semester. It gives them $500 towards tuition for the following school year. It’s given to the student whose creative work in the journal is most exemplary.
The journal is currently looking for submissions from all of Southeast Alaska. The journal team hopes to see people from all communities sharing their creative works such as: prose, poetry, paintings, drawings, photography, ceramics, and more.
The Tidal Echoes guidelines are here: http://www.uas.alaska.edu/arts_sciences/humanities/tidalechoes/.
The deadline is December 1st, 2016.
If you have any questions, please contact the Tidal Echoes team at UAS.tidalechoes@alaska.edu.